Target Walleye

Sprengel’s winning bait, New superline coming?, Suspended ‘eyes tip

Welcome to Target Walleye! Target Walleye is a daily-ish roundup of the best stuff in the walleye world – collected by folks like the Lindners, Jim Kalkofen and a few other walleye nuts, and delivered directly to you. Enjoy!!

Today’s Top 5

On Winnebago, 43.69 lbs, 3 lbs behind Mark Courts going into the last day. He and his partner caught 18.42 lbs, the heaviest stringer of the tournament.
Korey won it by a mere 0.6i lbs, won a new Ranger 621FS and more than $15,000, total with bonuses = $84,424.

> He was puzzled after an extensive practice and didn’t know what to expect as the event unfolded. “It’s basically my home body of water and I had to relearn it on the fly.”

> Sprengel started each day on the south shore of the main lake, 15 miles from Oshkosh. There he targeted rock humps in 6-7′ that topped out at 2-3’…only getting those 5 to 7 bites a day.

> “There was one main hump and then small isolated humps off the main one. It’s something that’s not on a chip – I found it using my Lowrance StructureScan.

> “In practice, I was catching more largemouth bass there than walleyes. I really didn’t know what I had. It was strictly a morning deal and I had to get there as fast as I could.”

Sprengel’s winning bait.

> He opted for plastic instead of live bait because it allowed him to be more efficient, which was critical in the snaggy cover.

> ….10-pound Fireline in Flame Green [no leader].

What/how 2nd-5th fished.

Runner-up Jacob Ell caught 18.26 on the last day and almost won it.

2nd – Jacob Ell

> Ell fished the northeast side of the main lake, 14 miles from takeoff…”where the deepest part of the lake comes to the shoreline, a rock shoreline. It’s a shelf that goes from 4′ and then drops into 11′ and then further drops into the basin. I would put the boat in 11 feet and run the baits in 8-10′.”

> …speeds of 1.8 to 2 mph. “I was running three of my planer boards on the shore side. I was using No. 7 Berkley Flicker Shads. On cloudy, overcast days, black gold and black gold sunset were the best colors. When the sun would come out, purple tiger….”

> “I made sure those crankbaits were smacking the bottom. I definitely lost plenty of lures out there.”

3rd – Mark Courts

> Fishing the mouth of where the Fox River dumps into Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh…Courts termed his technique rod-lining.

> “My go-to bait was either the #7 or #9 Rapala Original Floater in purpledescent. Today it switched and the best color was orange. We were running a hand-line shank with a weight. The crankbaits were always within 6-8″ of bottom, which had a mix of clam beds and rock. The target depth was 13-14′. We were trolling at 1.5 mph.”

4th – Kevin McQuoid

> McQuoid shared the same 1/2-mile stretch of water at the mouth of the Fox River with Courts. He trolled his crankbaits over water 10-20′, some of it breakline and some of it basin.

> “We were handlining with #7 and #9 Original Floaters. Today orange was the key. Yesterday it was a mix of colors and the first day orange was the best again.”

5th – Ross Grothe

> Grothe also trolled the same general area as Courts and McQuoid. “We were using Floating Rapalas and pencil sinkers.”

> A new line so thin and strong that it could replace braid is about to be launched into the market.

> The company behind the development is World Fishing Tackle, which has been working on the secret project for 2.5 years.

> The line, called Gliss, is made from extruded hmpe [hemp??] fibres and…combines the qualities of both a monofilament and a braid.

> “Gliss looks like a mono, but has huge advantages, including almost zero stretch. Other lines have at least three times more stretch. The low stretch means it is incredibly sensitive… It also has extremely low diameter-to-breaking strength ratios.”

> …it can be produced far more quickly and cheaply than braid…takes around 100 hours to produce 1,000 meters of braid…but he can manufacture the same length of Gliss in a matter of minutes.

Minnesotans Jay Braaten and Dan Swenson – Swenson’s second Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit competition and Braaten’s first. They were 4th after day 1 with 15-09, then had an identical day 2 weight for a 31-02 total.

> They relied on rigging creek chubs and redtails in 20 to 30 feet of water on Cass Lake and Pike Bay…credited their Lowrance HDS sonar for revealing bottom-hugging walleyes, especially along steep breaks. “We also cast jigs tipped with 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Smelt in 15 feet.”

> They collected $10,600 in cash for the win, plus the $1,000 Ranger Cup contingency, $500 Berkley Baits Award and $500 Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch and Elite 7 contingency. They also claimed a $1,000 Cabela’s National Team Championship Prize Package including paid NTC entry, travel stipend, team jerseys and plaques.

Tip of the Day

> As a rule, you’ll find walleyes suspended just below the surface over deep water haunts, particularly in areas near rock-strewn reefs or sunken islands.

> “Speed, size and scent are crucial when it comes to catching walleyes when they are suspended. I’ll troll at various speeds until I get bit, and then make sure to stick to that pace. After that, I’ll start switching out blades, trying out different sizes and shapes to narrow the bite down more.

> “My harnesses have the freshest bait on them at all times, as the smell and taste of a crawler—kept fresh while in a Frabill Crawler Cabin—is irresistible to most any fish.”

> You’ll find him using #3 and #4 Colorado and Indiana blades when fishing inland lakes, and beefing things up to #5 and #6 blades, and adding willows to the mix, on the Great Lakes and reservoirs where walleyes feed on larger shad.

> Martin generally uses 1-ounce inline weights spaced 6-feet ahead of his spinning blades. With this weight, when trolled at 1 mph, the offering will sink about half the amount of line out behind the board when using 10-pound-test monofilament. (Ex: 30 feet of line out will drop 15 down.)

> Fish don’t always show up on standard sonar when high in the water column, due to them spooking out from under the boat and the transducer’s range. Side Imaging, however, allows anglers to see fish and bait.

Bait of the Week

Rapala Jigging Rap

A hot bait right now is the Jigging Rap, which is not just for ice! Used quite a bit on Lake Winnebago as well as on other Great Lakes walleye tournaments happening over the past few weeks across the Midwest.

In fact, here’s Mark Martin catching ’em this week on it:

Shot of the Day

Ever catch one with a blue tail?

Target Walleye brought to you by these fine folks along with the ones above:

Target Walleye is brought to you by Al & Ron Lindner, Jim Kalkofen and other walleye nuts like you!